Monday, January 16, 2012

Stop touchin' my balls

I saw this picture on my Quay Lo’s Facebook wall few days ago and here is his message:

“Speaking of the year of the Dragon, it looks like the little warrior Goku san from Dragon Ball fame had better watch out this year.”

But my message to him is this when he left a batch of delicious Swedish Wedding Balls that he made, on the kitchen table:

“Better beware of our little terror, Ranger, our cat. Quay Lo San, you better watch out that if you don’t hide your balls, you will lose them!” Haiyah, this doesn’t sound like a polite sentence but do I have any other better way to say it? LOL!

Ranger will touch anything and everything and make a mess just to satisfy his curiosity. Now, I truly understand why there is this phrase, "curiosity kills the cat". He is now four months older since the day we rescued him from the drain. He is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in our home. Why do I say that? Oh yes, it is confirmed that he has split personality. When he is Dr. Jekyll, he wants all the attention you can give him but when he is Mr. Hyde, he will bite the hand that feeds him. He can make me love him to death one minute and get furious with him the next. Go figure! You will understand why I said that after you see his photos which was taken by me and edited by my Quay Lo.

So much about our little terror, and I am sure you are now wondering what the delicious balls look like and some might be interested to make them so here is my Mother-in-law's recipe that was passed down to my Quay Lo.

Two of my blogger friends, Small Kucing and his family and Cleffairy and her son have tasted these delicious balls. In fact, her son finished them all before his Daddy had a chance to taste one. Then later, Small Kucing told me that they tasted them and they were delicious. I guess it is worth including these balls in your Chinese New Year’s cookie list. Since these balls have so many different names, how about add one more and we call these "Dragon balls" for the Year of the Dragon? There seems to be an open license to call them whatever we wish, to join labels like:

"My Mom called these Swedish Wedding Cookies. I think it all depends on what you heard it called first which determines how you personally label these. Many variations exist. What is clear is that it is a wide spread, basic recipe for an unleavened sweet that keeps well, and accompanies tea and/or coffee very well."

Added post pub: Wikipedia suggests these pastries are related to recipes that appeared as early as the 17th century for a pastry called "Jumble", and were popular for their simplicity, taste, and the ability to store them for up to a year. Originating either in Italy or the Middle East the "cake" called for almonds instead of the pecans introduced in the Northern hemisphere. Other variations called for favoring with aniseed, carraway, rosewater, and other flavoring spices offering a large potential for experimentation. The common element in most of these recipes is the ratio of shortening to flour, the use of nuts and/or nut flours, and the omission of leavening agents. Wikipedia also notes the variety of names under which the various recipes are found, and in particular, their appearance in wedding celebrations.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands

1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent or roll in a ball. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks

41 comments:

Ranger looks like a very smart little fellow and i think he's very lucky to be rescued by such a wonderful family, youtr husband did a wonderful job of narrating the photos.Perfect!We call these cookies Russian tea cakes, I don't kbnow why and I suppose we probably got this wrong, but we have been calling them this for years, they are very good, our recipe is the same as yours.Thankyou for sharing such a fun post

Make the ball into orange colour, den it will be really dragonballs. OMG, I love Dragonballs... and I'm still hooked to it. Dragonball is now celebrating 20 years anniversary, and they are remastering the cartoon.The remastered version is known as Dragonball Z Kai. LOL! Can't believe time flies so fast! I used to watch it when I was a kid, and now I'm letting my son watch it! LOL.

I love cats. I would love to meet Ranger one day. I have a cat at home too. Her name is Meow Meow and she's spoiled rotten. I wonder what kind of food you feed ranger? Kibbles? Wet food or whatever you can cook up from the kitchen? Ranger is gorgeous!

I wonder what those balls taste like. I've had kueh makmur...or ghee balls before - very common these days. When they first appeared, they were a hit and very popular. I think it has since lost its appeal...

@laurieRanger is very smart:D I don't think you are wrong to call the balls Russian tea cakes. They have many names:D

@cleffairyNext time I make the balls for you, I will make them in orange. MeowMeow is a pretty cat. Oh we feed ranger dried cat food. The brand is ACANA. I think 3kg pack is RM74.00. Ranger's food is more expensive then Ruby's food.

@Sheoh YanYes he does, they are green in color. He is green eye monster. hehehe.

@WendyYes, I will be bringing those balls with me.. Will be making fresh ones lah. This batch finished already.

@Baby SumoYou can, but in exchange for a hug from your kiddie. When shall I send them to you? LOL!

@Yvonnehahaha, you are?

@SharonYes, it is absolutely right. You can try my balls if you come for the CNY meet.

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Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.

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